Ieee International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment

Recycling is generally thought of as an attempt to close a material loop with an additional input of energy. That is, by nature’s own model, discarded mixed materials are restored to their original pure condition for re-use. Economically minded people recycle when the value of the reclaimed materials exceeds the cost to capture and restore them. Ecologically minded people recycle to conserve resources (or so they hope). Often the two do not agree. The main difference between these two points of view is the value system employed. Thermodynamics presents an alternative value system which can bring new understanding and insights to the issues of recycling. It can account for the restoration and loss of resources in a rigorous way. Furthermore, it is often the case that certain “scaling effects” suggested by thermodynamics often agree closely with observations of economic behavior.